SS region notes.docx

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School

University of Toronto St. George

Department

Sociology

Course

SOC102H1

Professor

1305523660960

Semester

Winter

Description

SS- textbk Region Nations and Empires
 Every region nation or empire is defined by political and legal jurisdiction: who rules it and under
what body of laws
ex: Britain was a set of dominions, colonies, and protectorates loosely ruled from London
within each of these dominions, colonies and protectorates, ppl were ruled by a local version
of British common law, managed by local judges and magistrates
 Empires have taken a range of diff approaches in how they managed their subjects.
the roman empire famously decided to tax its colonies but not to meddle in their cultural or
religious affairs; this wise decision contributed to a relatively long period of peace
 Nations are mainly political units
in most modern world national societies are political states and most states are national societies
 Regions are often just combinations of political/jurisdictional units. Sometimes political units have
banded together to form an alliance against Ontario or Quebec or against the federal gov as we have
seen in the Maritimes or the prairie provinces
 However regions aren’t only fundamentally political units; they’re better understood as geographic,
ecological, economic, social and cultural units
 Andorra in the Pyrenees include a single unified ecosystem
 Most regions are ecologically homogeneous; their common ecology and the common lifestyle to
which this gives rise and makes tm into economic and cultural communities
 The st Lawrence watershed is a natural geographical boundary
 Mountains in N.A share a history of resource extraction, lumbering and cattle grazing
 Central plains regions are all agricultural, whether in cnda or u.s
 Joel Garreau and James Curtis wrote a book
both books show that certain historic similarities within a region such as a shared history of
settlement o connection to the centres of power, results in social and cultural similarities among its
ppl
 Empires are largely political and economic units, while nation-states are political and economic units
that may not be culturally unified
 Toronto + Montreal are core cities, financially, politically, and artistically
 2 features that characterize locations: exchange and domination
locations tied together by large-scale flows of ppl, goods, capital or info are effectively regions,
nations or empires
locations that are mainly the sources of capital, manufactured goods and political decisions are “
the centre”
locations that are mainly recipients of capital, manufactured goods and political decisions are the
periphery
these periphery locations send raw materials and profits to the centre and also new reports
 Conflicts are likely to arise btwen regions nations and empires.
inequalities of power, wealth and influence are central to these relationships as a result of unequal
exchanges.
ecological, cultural and social differences also divide them one from another  Cold War
one form of cooperation was thru music
music is an international language, often w.o political content
the xhcange of musicians has often served to keep open lines of communication and cooperation
across hostile borders
other forms of cooperation such as exchange of scientists, writes
 Regions, nations or empires co operate against common enemies
 In the 2 half of the 20 cen the UN was occasionally helpful in mobilizing co operate efforts around
international concerns
these included preserving heritage sites, calling attn to right of women and children, mobilizing
peacekeepers
 George Orwell in 1948 imagined a world in which 3 dominant empires kept realigning themselves
rd
with a diff pair always hanging up against the 3
 Opportunities for co operation across regional lines are also muc